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Leominster festival named for local legend, but continues for community

By Katina Caraganis , kcaraganis@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
09/22/2013 06:51:37 AM EDT

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LEOMINSTER -- What started as an idea to bring people downtown to support local businesses while honoring a colorful figure in the city's history has grown into an annual entertainment event that hundreds of families mark on their calendars each year.

On Saturday, the Johnny Appleseed Festival celebrates its 20th year with a strong lineup of music acts, food vendors and family friendly activities in and around Monument Square, plus a special City Hall concert at night.

Ward 5 City Councilor Rich Marchand, a member of the event's organizing committee and arguably the festival's most ardent champion, said the history of the festival is what keeps it going year after year.

"Twenty years ago, downtown still had a flavor for family-owned businesses in the retail market and it would be good for them to bring more business to the downtown community. It was part of a revitalization concept to bring people downtown," he said.

The festival is named after historical legend John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, who was born in Leominster and is credited with introducing apple trees to large parts of the East Coast.

The original festival took place on lower West Street with a conservative number of merchant participants, Marchand recalled last week. After six years, Marchand was asked to get involved in expanding the festival.

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"At the same time, there was a strong spirit and mission to make it bigger and include more of the community in the actual vendor court and entertainment," he said. "At one time, it was just a handful of local businesses setting up and a very small platform stage with a DJ."

What happened after that, he said, is something he never could have imagined.

"Today, we have as many as 140 vendors, we have two stages with entertainment going on from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We've grown to have a very multicultural food court," he said.

The JA Festival joins the ranks of some other downtown festivals throughout the year, including the summer and winter strolls, Kids Day, and Starburst at Doyle Field.

Despite the plethora of events residents can attend year-round, Marchand said there's no competition among any of the groups.

"We all support each other. We work together. We do whatever we can to help each other. Our goal as a community stands strong," he said. "It's a team effort to try and make the best out of every event that takes place."

When Marchand got involved, one of the biggest things he wanted to do was encourage more local, family-owned businesses to the festival, he said.

"One of the things I recognized was that about 80 percent of the people were professional vendors and were coming in from out of town. The rest were school-based or nonprofits. One of the goals we had as a group was to change that," he said. "The flip side of that is it becomes challenging to fund because we don't charge as a group anything to participate. It's incumbent on our part to raise as much money as we possibly can to defer expenses. We don't have a fund in the city's budget to defer the costs."

One of the highlights for people, he said, is the apple crisp, which members of the First Baptist Church begin baking in the days leading up to the festival.

"People come down here just to get that apple crisp. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it," he said. "It's become pretty special in we need to do things like this in the community. People appreciate it. People come up and it's amazing."

Countless hours go into setting it up in addition to the months it takes to fundraise, solicit donations, and anything else that needs getting done.

"Our committee has to push on regardless of how challenging things become. We have to do this for the community. It involves kids and it involves family. We don't leave anyone behind. If we know there's a family in trouble, we invite them to come down and we provide everything to them for free," he said.

Just because the event begins doesn't mean the committee members are off the hook to sit back and relax, Marchand said. Oftentimes they're out and about downtown making sure things run smoothly and handling any issue that may come up.

"One year, it was a few years back, I was completely exhausted and I just sat down in the park looking at everything. It was just a tremendous feeling and a sense of pleasure," he said. "I watched a little boy and girl sharing a candy apple. I saw a dad dancing with his daughter in the park to music. I recognized an elderly couple tapping their feet and holding hands and smiling. I saw a guy in the military be embraced by a high school friend who he hadn't seen in a long time. It's only a moment that is frozen in time."

Mayor Dean Mazzarella said the Johnny Appleseed Festival has been a mainstay in the community and something he personally looks forward to every year.

"It's definitely like a community pride day," he said. "At the end of the day, when you define community, this is the exact definition. Everyone wants to go back to the way it was. People talk about the good old days, and this is a way for us to experience that again."

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